Marilyn Monroe nonetheless casts a protracted shadow throughout Hollywood. The highs and lows of her life and work are a relentless supply of comparability for fast-rising feminine stars. Particularly in the event that they occur to be younger, gifted and blonde.
Monroe’s indelible picture defines what it means for an actor to realize a transcendent stage of superstar standing that by no means dims. Up to date followers might by no means have seen any of her films in full, however Monroe’s title and likeness are nonetheless imbued with that means, from intercourse attraction to a tragic early loss of life to her rags-to-riches origin story. The legend of how Norma Jeane Baker triumphed over a childhood in orphanages and foster care to turn out to be a Hollywood icon is deeply embedded into the American story.
Almost 65 years after her loss of life at age 36, each stage of Marilyn Monroe’s brief life has been the supply of countless fascination, as detailed in books, novels, films, performs (her third husband, Arthur Miller, wrote two, 1964’s “After the Fall” and 2004’s “Finishing the Picture”), documentaries, TV sequence, artworks of all types and extra. All of this has saved Monroe entrance and heart as a popular culture touchstone.
The parable-making round Monroe began earlier than her loss of life. Kim Stanley performed a thinly veiled model of Marilyn in Paddy Chayefsky’s 1958 movie “The Goddess.” Barbara Loden gained a Tony in 1964 for her portraying a thinly veiled model of Monroe within the unique Broadway manufacturing of “After the Fall.” Most lately, up-and-comer Ana de Armas delivered a uncooked portrait in 2022’s “Blonde,” from writer-director Andrew Dominik, based mostly on Joyce Carol Oates’ biographical novel from 2000.
For certain, listing of actors and celebrities who’ve been influenced by or relentlessly in comparison with Monroe is lengthy (and never all blonde). Simply ask Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Pamela Anderson, Sienna Miller and Catherine Deneuve, to call however a couple of.
“I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like, ‘Is this the end of the road creatively?,’ ” Johansson advised Selection in Might 2023 of reaching a profession crossroads within the mid-2010s.
Deneuve made peace with the blonde specter that has hung over her profession by embracing Monroe’s talent as an actor. “She did comedies, dramas. She was funny, moving, seductive. I found her incredible. She embodied beauty and cinema at the same time,” Deneuve advised Selection in December 2016.
Oates emphasizes that at coronary heart, “Marilyn Monroe” was a persona, a personality and a defend {that a} streetwise younger girl named Norma Jeane Baker adopted to outlive in a cutthroat world and tough career.
“In a sense, Norma Jeane Baker represents the authentic self — as we all possess ‘authentic selves’ usually hidden beneath layers of defensive personae. ‘Marilyn Monroe’ is the performing self that really exists only when there is an audience,” Oates advised Selection in 2022.
Right here’s a sampling of actors and celebrities who’ve felt the influence of Hollywood’s Monroe Doctrine.
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Kim Basinger
Picture Credit score: WireImage The actress couldn’t escape the Marilyn Monroe mentions as she emerged as a drive on display such movies as 1984’s “The Natural,” 1985’s “Fool for Love,” 1986’s “9 ½ Weeks” and 1989’s “Batman.” Off display, Basinger’s romantic life intersected with dynamic figures that fueled extra public curiosity in her life.
Selection noticed it throughout our February 2025 story, revisiting Basinger’s 1997 Oscar win, writing, “Like Marilyn Monroe before her and Demi Moore and Pamela Anderson after, Basinger shed the expectations of her looks and her tabloid-friendly personal life (in addition to Baldwin, former lovers included Prince, ‘Batman’ producer Jon Peters and Richard Gere) and proved that she deserved a crack at the meaty roles.”
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Farrah Fawcett
Picture Credit score: Penske Media by way of Getty Photographs Fawcett grew to become synonymous with the Nineteen Seventies after her profession exploded when she was forged as one of many stars of ABC’s “Charlie’s Angels.” After which there was that well-known poster – the ever present picture of Fawcett sitting in a pink one-piece swimsuit, flirting with the digital camera with a candy smile surrounded by volcanic blonde locks blow-dried and sculpted into feathered perfection. Fawcett made her mark her as a intercourse image – after which spent the remainder of her life making an attempt to outrun the profession lure of being seen solely as a fairly face and a tiny waist.
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Kim Kardashian
Picture Credit score: Penske Media by way of Getty Photographs It’s an indication of recent occasions that Kim Kardashian has achieved Monroe-level world fame (345 million Instagram followers can’t be fallacious), not as an actress however for letting her actual life play out throughout many screens. Kardashian solely inspired this sentiment when she wore Monroe’s iconic beaded costume — the one she donned to serenade President Kennedy with “Happy Birthday” in 1962 — to the Met Gala in 2022. True to type, Kardashian indulged herself just because she might. “I wore Marilyn’s dress once, and I just took it all in,” she advised Selection in 2024.
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Girl Gaga
Picture Credit score: Selection Girl Gaga has channeled Monroe’s seems quite a few occasions to make a press release about glamour, timeless trend and what the general public needs from its superstars. The multihyphenate donned the curly Marilyn bob at each the Oscars and Golden Globe ceremonies in 2016. Gaga went above and past to finish the look, even overlaying up her tattoos.
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Jessica Lange
Picture Credit score: Selection Lange confronted the Marilyn conundrum early on together with her first main movie function in 1976’s critically scorched remake of “King Kong.” Producer Dino De Laurentiis advised anybody who would hear that Lange was “the next Marilyn Monroe.” Many years later, Lange recalled what a problem that offered, on prime of the horrible critiques.
“She was a tragic figure who led a tragic life and who wasn’t taken as the serious artist she was,” she advised Folks journal in 2024. “I don’t want to compete with her memory or with anyone.”
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Madonna
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Sky Unique The singer invited comparisons to Monroe early on, beginning together with her recreation of the “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” quantity from 1953’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” within the video for her 1985 hit “Material Girl.” Six years later, she famously invoked Monroe in a splashy 1991 Vainness Honest picture shoot that dropped simply as Madonna was getting critical about her appearing profession.
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Anna Nicole Smith
Picture Credit score: Penske Media by way of Getty Photographs Bleached blonde and voluptuous, Smith naturally invoked the horny facet of Monroe as she gained fame from the pages of Playboy. The one-time stripper, who married a ninety-something Texas oil baron, rose to tabloid stardom within the early Nineteen Nineties simply because the “famous for being famous” development was getting began. Very similar to Monroe, Smith struggled with the exigencies of fame, dying in 2007 at age 39.
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Sydney Sweeney
Picture Credit score: JC Olivera Sydney Sweeney is the most recent charismatic star to invoke the essence of Marilyn Monroe — a head-turning magnificence with a transparent dedication to construct a revered profession as an actor and as a participant who is aware of her price within the fashionable leisure panorama. Throughout her profession thus far, Sweeney has proven an urge for food for tackling a variety of fabric, from high-end style (“The Housemaid”) to gritty drama (“Christy”) to HBO’s buzzy “Euphoria” and Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” each of which helped put her on the map. The previous few years of Sweeney’s profession have mirrored a Monroe-like rise to Hollywood’s prime echelon.
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Sharon Tate
Picture Credit score: Getty Photographs Sharon Tate’s corn-colored lengthy straight hair and flowy minidresses mirrored late ‘60s sex appeal as much as Monroe’s curls and conical bras outlined the va-va-voom of the Nineteen Fifties. The expertise Tate displayed in her handful of movie roles – notably 1967’s “Valley of the Dolls” and 1968’s “Rosemary’s Baby” – solely amplify the tragedy of her homicide by the hands of the Manson household in 1969.
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Michelle Williams
Picture Credit score: Getty Photographs Michelle Williams earned an Oscar nom for enjoying Monroe in 2011’s “My Week With Marilyn,” which examined a pivotal second of Monroe’s profession. Williams essayed the function just some years after the devastation of dropping actor Heath Ledger, who’s the daddy of her daughter. Williams bonded simply with the lady that she discovered contained in the legend, telling Selection in 2011, “I could play this part for the rest of my life.”
